The pansy is a large group of hybrid plants cultivated as garden flowers. Pansies are derived from Viola species: Viola tricolor hybridized with other viola species, these hybrids are referred to as Viola×wittrockiana or less commonly Viola tricolor hortensis. The name “pansy” also appears as part of the common name for other Viola species that are wildflowers in Europe.
Modern horticulturists have developed a wide range of Pansy flower colors and bicolors including yellow, gold, orange, purple, violet, red, white, and even black (very dark purple), as well as variable colored varieties. Pansies typically display large showy face markings.
Pansies are generally hardy plants and will survive freezing temperatures even during their blooming season. Plants grow well in sunny or partially sunny positions in well-draining soils. Pansies are normally biennials. The first year plant produces greenery, and bears flowers and seeds in its second year of growth. Afterwards, the plant dies like an annual.
Pansies can survive light freezes and short periods of snow cover, but, in areas with prolonged snow cover, a covering of dry winter mulch is recommended. Pansies perform best in zones with moderate temperatures, and equal amounts of mild rainfall and sunshine.
Pansies usually are sold to the end consumer as flowering plants. Regular (biannual) pansies grown into spring respond strongly to daylength and temperature when it comes to flowering timing. Differences in flowering response occur from season to season and variety to variety. This makes it difficult to predict when the pansies will be ready to be sold. It very often happens that the pansies flower either too late or too early. In many cases growers need to take corrective actions like spraying with plant growth regulators, heating or cooling the crop, picking early flowers. Every correction made is costing labour and inputs and an opportunity for failure. In the Netherlands for example, many retail companies have started to sell pansies in spring in specific weeks, and so the need for predictable growing varieties has increased even more.
Therefore a need exists for a pansy plant which grows more uniform and more predictably and requires less input in terms of labor costs and resources.